This blog has suffered serious neglect, as I have been working for some time now to complete a MFA in Music and Performance Writing. My final project for this course is in the form of an online environment WordsatPlay where I exhibit three song recordings and a selection of text-based collages. The site itself has been designed as a piece of art, a collage of elements. I invite my audience to play, to explore, to engage with the work, with me and with each other, through an open forum of comments and questions. Please feel free to visit the site and share any inspirations you may have. I look forward to communicating with you over at WordsatPlay.

I have to say, we had a wonderful summer this year! I made the most of August outdoors, which meant I spent little time online, and my blog suffered serious neglect. But I figure I can more than make up for this now, as the weather has become really cold and I am staying put behind closed doors, concentrating on all the work I want to catch up on.

As some of you will know, every Tuesday I post a photo on my facebook page with some lyrics from a favourite song – mine or another artist’s. This week I thought to celebrate all things Autumn, and share some lyrics from my song entitled “Autumn Leaves”. Here it is below:

You know there are times when I can’t make sense of conclusionsThe pieces are missing and floating aboutIn a sea of confusion and churning and usingMy dark sense of logic to figure it outYou know there are days when I can’t help but feel itCrystal and clear an obvious plightIn the tears of illusion and twisted contusionsIt moves through my heart and I can’t sleep at nightComes upon me, stays with meWon’t leave me, can’t help meI’ve nowhere to go with this treacherous flightComes upon me, stays with meWon’t leave me, can’t help meIn a moment I’d lose and gain beautiful sightI know there are seconds that can lead to completionThey can lead to a knowing a yearning fulfilledIn the grasping of limbs this terrible thingCan kill every purpose of reason and rightComes upon me, stays with meHolds tightly, won’t leave meThis splitting of noble emotion to fightComes upon me, holds tightlyCan’t leave me, hides inside meLives dark in the shadowsCries beautiful sight

To celebrate World Poetry Day today, I give you the following poem. I hope you enjoy 🙂

Idea

I do not like the ideaOf loving the idea of youIt is you, is it notThat I loveNot in love with ideas thereofOr you in my imaginationWho I will createWhat you will beIs pleasing to meIt cannot be this idea I seekFor you try meYou make me feel weakNo not the idea of youBut all that I saw and I knewAnd I feltYes look there is itNot in my mindA feeling, no notion to grindA knowing and comfortable, niceNot ideas that make me think twiceA feeling I worry I’ll loseIf I imagine ideas of youWhen I long for your presence to holdAnd I miss you and lie in the coldOf rejection and frightThen all I am left with in slightAre ideas that run through my mindTo keep what I feel in this bindTo feed me and keep you aliveIn absence ideas surviveAnd outlines of moments we knewBecome an idea of you

Nature’s Flow by Emily Coates is a collection of five songs each very different in tone, brought together by Emily’s stunning vocals and distinct style of piano playing. The title track is a contemplation on the principles of being in the now; following the flow of Nature in all things we would otherwise label and define according to our structured beliefs. To My Friend is an ode to friendship – reflections on its conception and subsequent demise. Easy and Try To Be Kind are timeless love songs, their story told with delicate emotion, set apart with a simple production of piano, vocals and a whisper of strings. Spoken is the most empowering song on the EP, calling on the necessity of faith, and for one’s voice to be expressed even during times of darkness and struggle.

It is evident that Emily Coates is not reined in by genre. She allows the emotion of a musical language to capture her attention and produce what it will within her. She weaves her inspirations with love, producing emotive, thought-provoking songs with which she aspires to capture her listeners’ attention and inspire change within.